Case Study Identification and Scenario Analysis

Forensic Distinction: Concern or Coercive Control?

One of the most complex challenges in early detection is distinguishing between a genuinely concerned and a controlling partner, as the behaviors may superficially resemble each other ("mask of caring").

In the case study analysis, the practitioner must assess the function and impact of the behavior.

For example: a husband who frequently calls his wife's cell phone may seem affectionate, but if the calls are incessant, occur only when she is with friends or at work, and he gets angry or interrogates her if she does not answer immediately, this is stalking and controlling behavior, not affection.

If he insists on driving her to and from work every day, is it for logistical convenience or to prevent her from having unsupervised social interactions along the way? The differentiating criterion is autonomy: if the behavior reduces the woman's space for freedom and generates anxiety about noncompliance, it is coercive abuse.

Coercive control seeks to micro-regulate the victim's life under the guise of romantic love, and it is the expert's responsibility to dismantle that narrative.

Detecting Attitudes of Ownership and Contempt

In addition to behaviors toward the victim, there are indicators of risk in how the subject interacts with the outside world.

The practitioner should be on the lookout for attitudes that reveal a mentality of ownership or superiority.

This includes generalized or subtle contempt for the female gender ("all women are self-serving", "you're crazy like everyone else"), or the historical narrative where he is the perpetual victim and all his ex-partners are described as "crazy", "bipolar" or "bad".

Treatment towards people in service positions (waiters, employees) or towards animals is also revealing: cruelty or arrogance towards those he considers "inferior" often correlates with behavior in domestic intimacy.

Another early warning sign is the unilateral management of finances under the excuse that the victim "does not know about numbers" or "spends badly", thus starting the economic violence.

Identifying these rigid and hierarchical thought patterns allows for preventive intervention, helping the potential victim to recognize that she is entering into a dynamic of structural inequality before the traumatic bond is consolidated.

Summary